Community Picks: Detroit 0% vs Tampa Bay 0%

The Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday showed off plans for a new domed baseball stadium in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa, and they and area officials are banking on community excitement to help draw funding for it. Melanie Lenz, the Rays' senior vice president of strategy and development, promised the venue would be "a ballpark experience like no other" and not a stadium, but "a neighborhood ballpark." Among the features of the plans for the stadium, which could be built and open for business to start the 2023 season, would be a fixed translucent roof and sliding glass walls. Design officials called the sliding walls a chance to "let the outside in and the inside out." The stadium would seat 28,216, about 5,000 fewer than Tropicana Stadium in St. Petersburg and smaller than any current major league park. Continue to Article

July 10, 2018 10:08:pm EST

It’s no secret that Tropicana Field hasn’t been the best home for the Tampa Bay Rays. None of those things will be found in the Rays’ brand new ballpark in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa Bay, at least according to the plans the team revealed on Tuesday. The plan for this park, which the Rays project will open in 2023, calls for a nearly transparent ballpark experience, with sliding glass walls to “let the outside in and the inside out.” The park will be permanently enclosed and climate controlled, and the renderings are striking. Continue to Article

July 10, 2018 4:33:pm EST

The Rays want it and, like any other baseball team, want someone else to pay for it, and the release of these artist’s renderings are a carefully-orchestrated part of the overall sales pitch to outsource their overhead to taxpayers and local business. An entire webpage has been devoted to it called “Ballpark Reimagined,” which plays up the community’s suggestions for the park and talks about how closely the Rays are listening to the public throughout that process. “Hey, this is just as much your park as it is ours,” the Rays seem to be saying. Continue to Article

July 10, 2018 3:28:pm EST

The Tampa Bay Rays have unveiled plans for their proposed new stadium in Tampa. The team presented renderings of their plans in a press conference on Tuesday. The structure will feature a fixed translucent roof with sliding glass walls that open completely Continue to Article

July 10, 2018 2:54:pm EST